Preposterous Historical Revisionism on the Middle East Mayhem
As the old saying goes, the first casualty of war is truth.
It was bound to happen.
The chamber of horrors that much of the Middle East has become is now being exploited for political purposes. Call this grotesque disinformation campaign what it is — historical revisionism. This mass deception is right up there with wacko 9/11 conspiracy theories and holocaust denial. As the saying goes, the first casualty of war is truth.
Hard to believe, but many conservative pundits are now saying that George W. Bush was “right” about things over there. They insist, the former president “warned us” of the dangers of what would happen if American military ground forces departed the region “too soon.” Actually, this is nothing more than retreaded neo-conservatism. Yet another labyrinth of lies from the same bunch who asserted the existence of weapons of mass destruction and then labeled any questioning or criticism as traitorous.
Have they no shame? Won’t they ever take any responsibility? Didn’t these neoconservatives do enough damage already? Now, they expect us to ignore history and to really take them seriously?
According to their crackpot world view, the Obama Administration “made things much worse” in the Middle East for just about everyone. These screwballs claim that a rudderless American foreign policy created the chaos that we now see unfolding in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria.
What a load of crap.
Have they forgotten that 130 Americans and 5,000 Iraqis were dying every month at the height of the Iraqi War which was the summer of 2007 when President Bush was in the midst of his second term? This twisted fantasy that the Middle East, was better off back then versus now is not only absurd but dangerous. It implies the best strategy to improve the situation in the Middle East is through increased American intervention — which means more ground wars, an endless occupation, and yet more wasted lives and trillions from the national treasury. That’s essentially the neoconservative game plan — more wars (and war profits).
Let’s take a look at what really contributed to the mayhem of the Middle East at the moment, particularly in Iraq and with the emergence of the Islamic State.
FACT: De-Bathification in Iraq proved disastrous and contributed immensely to Iraq’s deteriorating security situation and the escalation of violent militant opposition — The very first executive order from the Provisional Authority, dictated directly by President Bush and Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was the immediate removal of all former Bath Party members from all positions in civil service. Tens of thousands of ordinary Iraqis — including policemen, firefighters, teachers, utility workers, petty bureaucrats, and all the other middle-class workers that are essential in a functioning society — were thrown out of work. This executive order not only destabilized the country’s infrastructure, it also alienated a key element of the local population which could have been used to rebuild the country and restore civil order. Banned from working within the new government, and without jobs, many of these outcasts gravitated to the opposition and joined the insurgency. The idiocy of this directive from the Bush Administration cannot be overstated enough. Read more here: WHAT WAS DE-BATHIFICATION?
FACT: The decision to disband the Iraqi military forces proved to be even more disastrous — It’s hard to imagine a more reckless policy from so-called “experts” in foreign policy and military affairs than tossing all government employees out of work and then expecting the country to function. But what happened next took American incompetence to a new low. While many within the Pentagon and the intelligence community quietly warned the Bush Administration dissolving the Iraqi military would pose serious consequences, President Bush and Sec. Rumsfeld thought they knew more than everyone else. Aided by toxic advice from the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz (a leading neoconservative who was called the “architect” of the Iraq War), CPA Executive Order Number Two was the complete disbandment of the entire Iraqi armed forces. Seriously, what did our “experts” think would happen when 600,000 mostly young men who were armed and trained in bomb-making and other military tactics were let go and turned loose in Iraqi society? Moreover, when the Iraqi armed forces were dissolved, most soldiers took their guns and ammo with them. Out of work, with no means of support, unable to fit into the new Iraqi society, where do you think most of these militants later turned up? Fact is, these are many of the same “terrorists” who have created the insurgency and who now make up what’s known as ISIS. Read more here: WHAT DISBANDING THE IRAQI MILITARY MEANT
FACT: “Mission Accomplished” demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the situation in Iraq — President Bush’s now embarrassing “mission accomplished” speech delivered on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln took his Administration’s level of incompetence even further down the scale of shame. What was he thinking? Did President Bush and his political cronies really believe the Iraq War was over? Actually, the vast majority of casualties on both sides took place long after the “mission accomplished” speech. The image of President Bush standing on the deck of a ship with the “Mission Accomplished” banner plastered behind him became a symbol of his total mishandling of the war and complete lack of understanding about the history and culture of the Middle East. Read more here: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED SPEECH
FACT: The key people placed in charge of creating a new Iraq were idiots — It all started with the bizarre selection of a former Henry Kissinger flunky named L. Paul Bremer. He was hand-picked by President Bush to head the Provisional Authority, which basically made him the temporary ruler of Iraq during the most critical phase of the transition. What were Bremer’s qualifications? Well, for one thing, he did not speak Arabic. He had little first-hand experience in the Middle East. And according to a recent PBS Frontline expose, he even had to undergo a two-week “crash course” on Iraq just prior to his deployment back in 2003. Yeah, a crash course….as in training wheels. Supposedly, sole qualification stemmed from being the managing director of a whoring consulting company for hire run by Kissinger (who took millions from the Chinese Government as a “consultant”). This was the buffoon selected to run Iraq! Of course, the foreseeable happened — disaster. One failure after another led to his departure 18 months later, and by that time Iraq was in the midst of civil war and thousands were dying. Read more here: L. PAUL BREMER
FACT: The Bush Administration didn’t simply misjudge the cost of the Iraq War, they even lied about it — The Iraqi War cost us trillions. It was paid for by American tax dollars on the backs of the middle class. We still don’t know the total financial cost of the war, occupation, and painful aftermath — which includes caring for veterans for several decades. For what? Why such tremendous sacrifices? What was accomplished? Rather than admit they totally misjudged Iraq in every way conceivable, former Bush Administration officials continue to openly lie and deceive the media and public. One of many downright fabrications was the claim that Iraqi oil reserves would be used to pay the cost of the war and reconstruction. However, Karl Rove, the politically poisonous pundit without any sense of shame, denies such a claim was ever made. Trouble for him is — the evidence is all over the place. Consider this: “Days after the U.S. invasion, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a congressional panel that Iraqi oil revenues would help pay for reconstructing the country, i.e. a cost of the war. ‘The oil revenue of that country could bring between 50 and 100 billion dollars over the course of the next two or three years. We’re dealing with a country that could really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon,’ he said.” Read more here: ROVE AND WOLFOWITZ ARE LIARS
So, who created ISIS? Try this — President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Advisor Paul Wolfowitz. They’re the architects of the Iraqi disaster. The real absurdity is they’re still out there giving speeches, appearing on talk shows and news programs, and being touted as experts on the Middle East. Applauded in public. Taken seriously as guests. As though their opinions mean something. But just look at their track record.
When added to the deliberate lies and gross incompetence that took place before the Iraq War — including the repeated insistence of non-existent weapons of mass destruction and the intentional conflating of 9/11 attacks with “going after terrorist training sites in Iraq” (which never existed), the comprehensive record of failures of the Bush Administration is the costliest and potentially most damaging to this nation’s security of any presidency in history.
Anyone who thinks “President Bush was right” about the Middle East is delusional. The facts clearly show he and his followers were wrong on just about everything. Sadly, we are still paying a costly price for his mistakes.
astoundingly good analysis, who is your ghost writer!
Bremer – such an idiot = his brother was a county commissioner in the conservative town of Colorado springs
and now seeking treasurer spot after term limited.
he kowtowed to the far religious right and tea baggers
The reasons we went to war in Iraq were more sinister than “Bush is an idiot”. It’s all about the money.
Bush had every chance in the world to nab Osama bin Laden in 2002, but instead went on an Iraq adventure.
Why? Bush and his cronies were friendly with lots of military contractors. Cheney? Halliburton? Does that ring any bells? Why do you think presidential candidates like Mitt Romney wanted an expanded military budget? Simply because many of their friends are in the military/industrial complex and they stand to gain trillion$ from these war adventures.
There was an ultra-strong financial impetus to keep the Iraq War going as long as possible, for it was actually within our grasp to nab bin Laden only 1-2 years after 9/11. If bin Laden had been caught there wouldn’t have been years and years worth of super-lucrative government contracts for well-connected military/industrial privateers via Iraq. Connecting the dots now?
Welcome to the real world. Anyone that tells you it isn’t about the money is full of sh**.
you are wrong , it was not just Bush
Nick: I used Bush as a colloquialism. Of course he was just a puppet or figurehead serving larger interests that were invisible to the public’s eye.
A beautiful strategy that pillaged the U.S taxpayer for ungodly sums of money required two components:
a) A quarantine force in Afghanistan that effectively encapsulated & neutralized bin Laden for many years by shutting off his finances and maintaining a high alert for his activities, yet never catching him with finality so that the public will willingly allow…
b) An adventure force that embarks on Iraq, making oceans of taxpayer money for prime military contractors for as long as Bush was in office.
Yes, Bush was a puppet….and there were people pulling the strings that didn’t have Americans’ best interests at heart.
Eventually we will get to a place where there is something, ANYTHING, that is the responsibility of our current administration. I, and many others, are tired of hearing this same old crap. It’s all Bush’s fault. All of it. And Fox News too. And the eeeeeevil republicans…… There were multiple mistakes made leading up to and during the
Iraq war. The subsequent implosion of the Middle East and the rise of ISIS were exacerbated by a foreign policy that simply didn’t exist. The foreign policy was to apologize for out Bush mistakes and hope the kind, rational terrorists would forgive us. After all, our way of life and freedoms are no better than theirs…..
You may or may not remember what precipitated the war. It was some documents alleging that Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase “yellowcake” uranium.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_uranium_forgeries
Fact: The Ba’ath Party was deemed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as the most horrific, deadly, and corrupt ruling minority under Saddam’s reign. According to The New York Times, “Saddam murdered as many as a million of his people, many with poison gas. The Ba’ath Party and its members tortured, maimed and imprisoned countless more. His unprovoked invasion of Iran is estimated to have left another million people dead.”
To claim that these party members were mere teachers, utility workers, petty bureaucrats, and all the other middle-class workers is untrue and should be corrected. The Ba’ath Party and it’s members made up less than 8% of the entire population. They were placed in positions of authority by Saddam and served as plants and informants to report and maintain order through fear and intimidation.
After the invasion, as proof of Ba’ath Party atrocities, numerous torture centers were found in security offices, fire and police stations, and government buildings throughout Iraq. This only solidified why the new Iraq government insisted that all Ba’ath Party members be removed from positions of authority.
They were removed at the request of the new government, not the US. The drafting and planning of the policy, according to your link provided on the subject, was submitted by Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Council, describing the possibility of removing Ba’ath Party influence from the Iraqi political sphere and comparing such a possibility to the Allied policy of De-Nazification articulated in the Potsdam Agreement of 1945. It was part of the occupation agreement and was enforced by the European Union and the US during the occupation.
You can argue that the occupation was a terrible idea, but do you really believe allowing the Nazi’s to remain in positions of power and influence would have been logical? Of course not. Don’t paint any of the Ba’ath Party as innocents or typical and productive members of society. They were monsters, all of them, and according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International they should have all faced trials and executions. Instead, they were given a choice to step down and assimilate into the new society or face arrest. Seems pretty fair to me.
Fact: The Ba’ath Party was deemed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as the most horrific, deadly, and corrupt ruling minority under Saddam’s reign.
1 the fact that HRW and AI had and opinion does not make that opinion a FACT!
2 Ba’ath Party did not “torture” or anything, it is an institution
3 noone claimed these party members were mere teachers,etc
4 Not all were placed in positions of authority by Saddam
5 “This only solidified why the new Iraq government insisted that all Ba’ath Party members be removed from positions of authority.” that is such bullshit!!
6 again more BAS by lisa – “They were removed at the request of the new government, not the US.”
7 European Union had no such role!
8 “naxis.. this is Iraq not germany
9 Some of Ba’ath Party WERE innocents and/or typical and productive members of society.
Oh Nick – Stop drinking George Soro’s Koolaid. I served in Turkey when Desert Shield turned to Desert Storm. Our duty was to provide shelter underground at the airport to those fleeing the Ba’ath Party. I heard their stories. Ba’ath was the Middle East equivalent of the Nazi’s, referred to themselves as such, and served only SH. They’re sole purpose was to carry out tortures, report “traitors” and rape women and children in an effort to intimidate. They were not regular “Joes.” I find it disgusting how Nick would stand by the most evil and corrupt groups just to support his ideals.
FYI – HRW and AI investigations and reports (not opinion) do make it fact. Who else would you trust? Geez!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-176284/Inside-Saddams-torture-chamber.html
http://iraqiholocaust.blogspot.com
http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/middle-east-government-politics-and-policy/saddam-husseins-bath-party-inside-authoritarian-regime
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/internationalhumanrights/p/saddam_hussein.htm
http://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2013/06/04/atrocities-in-iraq-an-historical-overview-part-one-2/
Some interesting reading from trusted sources.
Painting the Ba’ath Party as anything other than Middle Eastern Nazis (since they compared themselves proudly) is naive.
since you cant answer each point, evident you know nothing
desert sheild did NOT turn into desert Storm
are you really that stupid and cant parse sentences
What about peak oil theory? Oil is finite, and the entire underlying structure of western civilization depends upon oil. Not just for cars, but for the majority of manufacturing processes. Seems a slam dunk hypothesis that all current and future wars will have control of oil reserves as a main motivator.
Well done article , Nolan . It gives me , an accurate accounting, of the incompetency and the self serving nature of many in government during the Bush Administration.
Amazingly ,…they’ve gotten away with their past behaviour and continue to promote their legacy as strong leadership. Sadly, the foreign policy decisions made , from the first month of the Bush Administration will continue to touch our lives for decades.